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<title>(and she was loved) by hereforthehurts</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29240721">(and she was loved)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hereforthehurts/pseuds/hereforthehurts'>hereforthehurts</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Febuwhump, Gen, Insomnia, LIN AND THE AIR KIDS . . !!! we deserve that i think, Whump, auntie lin.. .. . yeah, soft Lin beifong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:15:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29240721</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hereforthehurts/pseuds/hereforthehurts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Air Temple was in danger once again, and Lin couldn't help but think about the air children on duty. </p><p> </p><p>(Or: Lin has anxiety, couldn't sleep, and Ikki comes to her rescue.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lin Beifong &amp; Ikki, Lin Beifong &amp; Jinora, Lin Beifong/Kya II (mentioned)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>(and she was loved)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For febuwhump day 6: insomnia !!! LIN AND THE AIR KIDS &lt;3333333 please   . Give that woman a break.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>Smoking had always been a bad habit Lin just couldn’t get rid of.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
She’s always been the picture perfect daughter, nobody would doubt that—doing what her mother wanted, never seemingly to get in trouble or go out of order like her sister always does. Smoking or drinking would have been the last thing her younger self would do. But yet, here she is anyway, twenty years later in the future, a cigarette between her fingers as she stood watch over Air Temple Island.<br/>
<br/>
The cold night breeze was comforting, at least. Lin inhales another breath of her smoke, hoping that at least it would calm her nerves.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
If anything ever happens to Tenzin’s family again…<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<em>The last airbenders, the last of a whole nation. </em>Sometimes Lin wonders if the young children knew what kind of heavy of title they wore on their shoulders. Sometimes, Lin wonders if they <em>do </em>know, and how they would cope with all this—the responsibility, the burden, the seemingly never-ending danger that always loomed over their heads, like now.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
(Because Lin sure never did cope with anything. Especially not with being her mother’s daughter.)<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
She exhales her breaths, watching the wind carry the gray smoke away.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
(Another murderer on the loose, coming to get all of them. Maybe she finally could begin to understand how Jinora could be so mature and wise after all. With the fear of death them all the time, how could they not?)<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Another inhale, another exhale. The nicotine was making her anxiety more and more bearable.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
(This family, it was all that she had. The ones who would first be informed if anything happens to her in action. The ones she would go to if she could no longer hold herself together on her own. The ones she had sacrificed her life for—and she’d do it all over again.)<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
“Aunt Lin?”<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Lin heard their steps before she heard the small voice, her body tensing up almost immediately, mind alert and ready for a fight. Of course she was surprised when all that appeared on the balcony’s doorway was a small girl with bobby pins on both side, hands fiddling with the hem of her pajamas.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh… god, Ikki, I’m—” Lin stutters, stepping on the cigarette she had dropped onto the floor to hide it from the small girl. <em>Picture perfect daughter, picture perfect aunt. </em>That title never seem to leave her, even when she isn’t so picture perfect anymore. “What—what’re you doing out of bed…?”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s okay,” Ikki says with a sleepy voice. “I know you smoke.”<br/>
<br/>
“I…” She stares at her in defeat. “Yeah, of course you do.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, I mean, it’s not okay—but daddy tells me sometimes people do things they don’t want because they have to.” The girl continues, walking over to where she stood before burying her head in her waist. “Anyway, ’m tired.”<br/>
<br/>
Lin finds herself chuckling. “Then why did you get out of bed?”<br/>
<br/>
“I can’t sleep.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh.” She hesitates to put an arm around Ikki’s small body for a moment before going for it anyway. Ikki seems to accept it as a natural thing. “Yeah. Me neither, kid.”<br/>
<br/>
“Aunt Kya’s usually the one holding me,” Ikki mumbles to her. “I miss her.”<br/>
<br/>
<em>I miss her too, </em>Lin finds herself saying before she caught the words from slipping out of the tip of her tongue. Instead, she says, “I’m sorry.”<br/>
<br/>
Ikki’s small hands grasps around the shirt underneath her thick, metal armor, her eyes looking anywhere <em>but </em>her, and Lin took a while to realize that the girl was asking her a silent question.<br/>
<br/>
“I…” How would she do this? Kids weren’t exactly her specialty. At these moments, she wished she had Kya’s soft, alluring skills. Kya had always known what to do.<br/>
<br/>
Finally, she places her hand over Ikki’s tiny shoulders and squeezed her gently. “Hey… uh, let’s—let’s get you to bed, yeah? It’s late.”<br/>
<br/>
Ikki grasps on her shirt tighter. “I sleep better when I know I’m safe,” she mutters out. “And Jinora sleeps better when someone’s holding her—maybe, you’d sleep better too, if you’re with us.”<br/>
<br/>
Lin smiles. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
She leads the small girl away from the cold balcony and into the girls’ warm, dark bedroom. She could hear the wheezing breaths from the door before Ikki turns on the lamp, a girl sitting on the edge of the bed, curled up and shaking.<br/>
<br/>
Lin could feel her heart clench. <em>This… this is the impact of it all. </em>It felt like she was watching her younger self cry. She feels pathetic that all she could really do was stand there for a moment, unsure of what to do until Ikki breaks the silence.<br/>
<br/>
“She needs a hug,” Ikki says, calmly getting onto the bed to hold her sister from behind. “Just hold her. She’ll be okay.”<br/>
<br/>
Lin moves to kneels in front of her, cupping Jinora’s trembling hand inside of hers and squeezes it tight. “Breathe, Jinora,” she tells her. “You’re okay. It happens, and it sucks, but it’s okay.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” Jinora nods with her, choking out sobs after sobs. “It’s… it’s—it’s okay.”<br/>
<br/>
“Would you like some water?” She stands up to grab the half-empty glass of water sitting on the nightstand. Jinora accepts it gratefully—and before she knew it, her sobs began to subside, reduced to silent tears—<br/>
<br/>
—and they were okay.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
They were <em>okay.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</em><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
“C’mon, auntie Lin,” Ikki calls for her. “You need to go to bed, too.”<br/>
<br/>
She nods offers her a small smile, stripping off her armor in a flash. Locks the door, closes the blinds, turns off the light, and slips into bed with them. Sandwiched between the two girls, an arm around each of them, pulling them closer. Keeping them safe.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks, auntie Lin,” She hears Ikki mumble half consciously. “Love you.”<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Thick, stinging pain forms in her throat, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. <em>Love you. </em><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
She was loved.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Yeah—what was she thinking? Of course she was loved. Lin loved them, and she was loved back.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
It was the best sleep she’s had in years.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
 <br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://hereforthehurts.tumblr.com/">my tumblr blog &lt;3</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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